Greenburgh has some outstanding residents. One of them, Karl Bertrand, is being honored by the Greenburgh Town Board this Wednesday night at 7:30 PM at Town Hall - at the beginning of our Town Board meeting.

During the past few years Karl has worked with the Greenburgh Town Supervisor, Greenburgh Central Schools Superintendent and community leaders developing an exciting initiative designed to better prepare students for technology focused jobs. Our dream is to create a nationally recognized model at Woodlands attracting Greenburgh’s brightest students.

The plan is to create a 4 year Fast Track Technology Scholars Academy for 200 Woodlands students.

Karl chaired many strategy meetings and donated hundreds of hours refining and writing a very impressive grant application which we have recently submitted. The concept that Karl developed, once funded and implemented, could change students lives, enhance the reputation of Greenburgh and the school district and provide meaningful employment opportunities to our youth.

Karl Bertrand, LMSW, is also founder and President of Program Design and Development, LLC. He has prepared over 2,300 grant applications and secured over $220 million in grant funding over the years.

Karl Bertrand has always cared about helping people. In 1983 (while a student) he organized Yonkers’ first homeless shelter. He was a co-founder of the Coalition for the Homeless of Westchester and the recipient of Social Worker of the Year by the Westchester chapter of the National Association of Social Workers.

Karl Bertrand has also co chaired Westchester’s Recovery Housing Network, which he organized to develop a more seamless and effective continuum of outreach, services and housing for people in the early stages of recovery from chemical dependency;

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Karl also helped develop the Bridge Fund – an organization that has helped many families avoid eviction. Karl has also worked to reduce truancy for the Mount Vernon and Yonkers school districts and has developed innovative juvenile crime prevention strategies. He has also coordinated the development of the first Drug treatment Courts in Yonkers, Mount Vernon and Greenburgh.

Karl is a real role model. He has enhanced the lives of many and is an outstanding role model for other citizens.

We are proud that he is a long time resident of the town of Greenburgh.